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So, I'm still going through Aselia the Eternal. I'm currently at the last, fifth chapter, so, I guess, I'm almost finished with my first playthrough.

First of all, this game turned out to be surprisingly fun and engaging. Which is even more surprising considering that there are a lot of plot points that I'd normally expect to hate, but, though noticeable, they aren't really affecting my enjoyment at all. I guess, there are simply too many points that I like so that the flaws don't feel like they matter at the end.

I'm going to post a more thorough 'review' later, but I just wanted to post a few screenshots and my reaction to them. Nothing but very minor spoilers, hidden to not annoy uninterested people with lots of pictures.

Spoiler

This looks like it could be a meme.

You know, there isn't really that many of them, but the romantic scenes with Aselia turned out to be pretty satisfying.

Also, it's surprising how nice some CGs look even though the art-style definitely leaves more to be desired.

Well, I know that anime and VN protagonists generally tend to be pretty stupid, but I didn't know they also happen to be blind... and deaf... I know it's not a big point, it's just funny how changing a character's hair style makes her completely unrecognizable to everyone else.

I'm not even marking this as spoiler because the game doesn't even try to hide who that actually is.

This also looks like it could be a meme.

My overall reaction: it's a surprisingly very good game, but it could be made even better with a good remake with updated graphics and some rewrites to make the different parts of story a bit more connected to each other. The gameplay parts, on the other hand, are very engaging, and, even though I generally avoided playing gameplay VNs before because I wasn't really interested in them, now I'll definitely start playing a lot more of them.

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So, I've started Natsuki's route in euphoria - I'm not really planning to go through the whole thing right now, will probably do two arcs, one today and one tomorrow. Then my GF comes back from visiting her family and I guess this is one of those VNs I don't want to explain to anyone, even those really open-minded people.

And so far it's... Well, it's everything I thought it would be, but made twice as horrible by the sounds and voices. The first death scene really sets up the tone, especially with how long it is and how much the game ponders over the macabre. The opening animation is just ludicrous and more funny than anything else with how over-the-top it is, but the torture scenes proper are made super-real by the voices. Those must've been some really unique recording sessions in the clock-up offices. I hope they have thick walls...

Edit: At least game gave me a breather with Natsuki's second h-scene, which is so dumb that it's pretty much pure comedy. Especially the voices and sounds. xD

Spoiler

And then came Rika-chan's peeing crisis. No one was left unscarred by what happened that day over the bucket.

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So, I've started Natsuki's route in euphoria - I'm not really planning to go through the whole thing right now, will probably do two arcs, one today and one tomorrow. Then my GF comes back from visiting her family and I guess this is one of those VNs I don't want to explain to anyone, even those really open-minded people.

And so far it's... Well, it's everything I thought it would be, but made twice as horrible by the sounds and voices. The first death scene really sets up the tone, especially with how long it is and how much the game ponders over the macabre. The opening animation is just ludicrous and more funny than anything else with how over-the-top it is, but the torture scenes proper are made super-real by the voices. Those must've been some really unique recording sessions in the clock-up offices. I hope they have thick walls...

Haha, yeah. Just wait for the voices in Maggot Baits. Euphoria’s scenes have nothing on those

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so after reading a good bit of key works like air , kanon , rewrite , clannad and even tomoyo after I decided to dive into the infamous (little buster's). Needless to say compared to the other key works . Little busters has been really hard for me to get into. Idk , from the start the story just seems really slow and boring compared to the other key novels. The characters aren't especially likeable and just overall doesn't draw me into the story like all the other key novels have done in the past. I mean , does the story gets better at some point or is it just slow , boring and mundane until I reach the refrain arc? After hearing so many good things about it , I really want to get into but reading this feels like im watching paint dry.

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so after reading a good bit of key works like air , kanon , rewrite , clannad and even tomoyo after I decided to dive into the infamous (little buster's). Needless to say compared to the other key works . Little busters has been really hard for me to get into. Idk , from the start the story just seems really slow and boring compared to the other key novels. The characters aren't especially likeable and just overall doesn't draw me into the story like all the other key novels have done in the past. I mean , does the story gets better at some point or is it just slow , boring and mundane until I reach the refrain arc? After hearing so many good things about it , I really want to get into but reading this feels like im watching paint dry.

To be honest, I don't think LB is different from the earlier Key works in any major way. If you think it feels a lot worse, then it most likely just means that you burned out with Key, and their stories lost the appeal they had for you originally. I recommend stalling it for now and go read something different, and maybe return to it later, at least in a few months. You simply won't enjoy it if you continue reading it right now.

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so after reading a good bit of key works like air , kanon , rewrite , clannad and even tomoyo after I decided to dive into the infamous (little buster's). Needless to say compared to the other key works . Little busters has been really hard for me to get into. Idk , from the start the story just seems really slow and boring compared to the other key novels. The characters aren't especially likeable and just overall doesn't draw me into the story like all the other key novels have done in the past. I mean , does the story gets better at some point or is it just slow , boring and mundane until I reach the refrain arc? After hearing so many good things about it , I really want to get into but reading this feels like im watching paint dry.

I think i can say that all stories are like stepping stones that eventually built into what you can see in Refrain. That's where the REAL story begins. Will you like it or not - that's another thing. I can clearly see why people like this VN very much, but i don't belong to that group myself... Actually, maybe i even like first part (before Refrain) more than Refrain itself. It's just because i absolutely don't like one of MC in it. Won't spoil who it is, but that's how things are for me - story in Refrain is way more good than bad; all stepping stones, that had been built previously, lie to create rather interesting story and experience. Needless to say, this VN has one of the best parties of childhood male friends. But so unlikable character just messes badly with enjoyment that could be gotten otherwise.

Before Refrain i can at least read stories about girls i like. Although that's not the case for you it seems... Can't say i like all girls, but most of them are good. It's just so happened that MC in Refrain is the one i don't like the most so... If you like that character then that's a good possibility you can enjoy Refrain to your heart's content. If you don't... Well, maybe that doesn't matter for you and you'll still read it with pleasure. But if you don't like all characters so much, then maybe it's just not for you. Even if you will like Refrain, maybe it's not worth reading all that's need to be read to unlock it...

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And so far it's... Well, it's everything I thought it would be, but made twice as horrible by the sounds and voices. The first death scene really sets up the tone, especially with how long it is and how much the game ponders over the macabre. The opening animation is just ludicrous and more funny than anything else with how over-the-top it is, but the torture scenes proper are made super-real by the voices. Those must've been some really unique recording sessions in the clock-up offices. I hope they have thick walls...

Euphoria's opening never fails to crack me up, what with how dramatic it is But the song is actually good!

Have "fun" with Euphoria... once you get past the first part (the part where they are trapped, that is) it actually starts developing some plot. You'll see that it's not just nasty sex scenes.

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So, I've reached both the Natsuki's an Rika's good endings in euphoria (also, I don't think what I'm going to say could reasonably count as spoilers, but I guess if you want to go in completely blind, don't read it?). So far, the "good" scenarios are actually less extreme than I've expected after the electric chair scene. Natsuki's route was a very good introductory arc, but the teacher-fetish pandering and ridiculousness of most of her scenes made the whole thing a bit of a self-parody and the whole scenario was not very impactful because of that. Although the VA's commentary was just awesome. She seems like a person that actually has a ton of fun with her ridiculous job.

Rika's route, on the other hand, was actually quite compelling to me. I really don't understand the hate here - she is an annoying and extremely flawed heroine, but she complements the protagonist very well, bringing both the worst and best out of him. I guess she's not a great love interest, but just because of how spoiled and annoying she started as she could grow in meaningful ways, giving both herself and the protagonist chance for redemption. When it goes to tone and satisfying conclusion, it was way more consistent and interesting than the teacher's route.

Also, it seems my gf won't be back home until tomorrow, so I think I'll go for two more routes today, obviously leaving Kanae's for last. As much as I don't care for the h-scenes (for torture ones for obvious reasons and consensual ones because of how dumb and immersion-breaking they are - would you really want to have sex just after being brutally beaten-up and still being held hostage, wtf?), "The Cube"-like scenario and seeing different character's reactions to being chosen by the protagonist are very intriguing. All obviously brought-down by the need of constant fanservice, but I still enjoy the main narrative quite a lot.

1 hour ago, Thyndd said:

Have "fun" with Euphoria... once you get past the first part (the part where they are trapped, that is) it actually starts developing some plot. You'll see that it's not just nasty sex scenes.

I know that's completely against what everyone is saying about this game, but so far, I actually find the death-game parts much more interesting than the portions outside of the facility. The interactions between the characters could be more fleshed out, but the premise of the protagonist fighting with his tendencies and every heroine both unleashing and limiting his urges in different ways is actually more intriguing to me than any conspiracy behind it all. Just like I wouldn't change the ending of The Cube, here I would be fine with no explanation at all, if the game would have expanded on protagonist's crimes and redemption, and generally the relationships between the characters during their confinement. :>

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Hey, y’all mind if I whine about needless shock value for a bit? Thamks.

I’ve just started Deathdays End as a break from Clannad’s slow slice of life (I’ve gotten a tad bored of it, whoops), I’m only about an hour in, but I’ve got beef with one (quite spoilery, so beware) scene. So! In the first scenario, one of the main characters finds this little girl, right? She’s about 8 years old, has no family (as they all got wiped out in the mini-pocalypse that had just befallen the world) nor friends and will most probably not survive a day in the state that she’s in, so he takes her with him. I thought, cool, maybe they’re setting up a The Walking Dead-esque thing with those two, like, the guy is going to take care of and protect the girl, and there’s going to be a growing relationship between the two, maybe some drama, and we’re going to have some cool themes to explore… But nope. Half of an hour in, the girl just ups and does a Sayori. And I’m just like… what? Why? Why the fuck did that have to happen? There was no build-up, no real reason behind it, it just came out of the left fucking field… At this time, I really think that it was done purely for shock value - “ooooh look, the poor innocent little girl just hanged herself, isn’t that horrible?! Don’t you feel bad?!!”. Like… no. I mean, I do, but not for that reason. I just feel… Cheated, I guess? Or maybe disappointed would be a better word for it? It’s just such a transparent attempt to shock the reader and make them feel sad, it just makes my teeth grind. Am I too harsh? I don’t think I am. This whole mess is pretty much this scene:

(Btw, I recommend Terrible Writing Advice, it’s a great show)

Ok, I’m done with my ranting for now. I hope it gets better later on

Edited December 27, 2018 by AlcorinSpoke too soon. It does get better XD

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Speaking of grimdark and questionable shock value, I'm done with euphoria (once more, no real spoilers incoming, but vague impressions/hints that some people might still want to avoid before reading the VN)!

And well, it was... Something. I mean, I'm not sure even how to describe the post-death game part. Discount Higurashi with porn? That could work. It was all... Serviceable, but really not much beyond that. The true ending also wasn't that rewarding. There were some really cool ideas (the bait-and-switch in the final route was very cool in theory), but the way things played out in the end... I really had no clear reaction to it and considering I've spent two whole days with this game, that's pretty sad. I should feel more after following these characters and storyline for so long.

After Natsuki and Rika, I went for Rinne... It started really strong, but once more, the epilogue part was just plain weird and confusing. Even after finishing the whole game and learning additional details to her backstory and personality, it didn't make much sense to me, but even beyond that, it was pretty... Alienating? The ending had very little emotional impact IMHO. Also, by that time the various "shocking" scenes lost their novelty so much that I wasn't reacting to them at all, especially considering how little most of the characters deserved compassion. This is a general complaint - this type of game should make you feel sympathetic for the characters to be effective in its storytelling, but euphoria pretty much undermines that in every route (and, of course, with the unbelievably dumb h-scene dialogue). I guess what's left is just weird porn, which, by the midpoint, was pretty much neither disturbing nor hot (Rinne's route, BTW, probably came the closest to, at times, actually being hot, with the genuine connection between her and the protagonist - one which, of course, fell apart later and never returned).

Nemu's route was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be and made even more interesting after you know the full picture. The hints are fun and the struggle between her and the protagonist intriguing.

And the final route is... Messy and anticlimactic? I didn't buy into pretty much anything in it when it goes to character's interactions, and the main reveal was even more lukewarm than I've expected. The dynamic between the protagonist and Kanae was a bit weird, but most importantly, made completely meaningless by the later events. The premise behind the death games was just edgy nonsense.

But, well, I can't say it didn't try to do some interesting things beyond the insane variety of disturbing porn, and didn't have its genuinely captivating moments, even if those were relatively few and far between. 6,5/10

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So, done with Aselia's route. I wanted to make a mini-review of the game at this point, but, to be honest, I have too many conflicting thoughts about the game right now, and I need to let them sink for a while to turn my thoughts into a reasonable form.

The last battle was a bit annoying though. It wasn't particularly difficult, but continuously moving the squads from one part of the dungeon to another kind of killed my enjoyment.

I'm not sure I'm going to read all the routes though. It feels from the story structure that the differences between routes is pretty small, and replaying all the battles for 7 times might be a bit too much. On the other hand, I just found on the fan-translators' forum that if you max out the stats of all the characters in super-hard mode and then play the game in the easy mode, and then you will apparently be able to finish all battles very quickly and without much thinking. I don't know, I'll see how it goes.

Actually, the dudes are exactly the reason Little Busters is a good game. The girls are just window dressing and a way to get you to spend some time with the characters and learn to like them all. In the end, it's all about the bromance.

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Actually, the dudes are exactly the reason Little Busters is a good game. The girls are just window dressing and a way to get you to spend some time with the characters and learn to like them all. In the end, it's all about the bromance.

Yep, i agree. This is about tje bro's. And rin i guess.

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Actually, the dudes are exactly the reason Little Busters is a good game. The girls are just window dressing and a way to get you to spend some time with the characters and learn to like them all. In the end, it's all about the bromance.

Yep, totally agree. Probably the only VN I've read that has this level of bromance.

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Hoshiori. Just did Marika's route and thats probably the most beautiful pure romance route i've ever played. I knew these guys had potential when i played Hatsukoi. They failed then, but holy crap how they made up for it with this title, or atleast this route.

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I knew these guys had potential when i played Hatsukoi. They failed then, but holy crap how they made up for it with this title, or atleast this route.

What routes in order did you like from least to worse from Hatsukoi? Also I'm curious about how comes you think the game was lackluster. I haven't played Maya's or Yukino's routes yet, I disliked some of the parts in Midori's, Kyou's and Runa's route...

Spoiler

Especially Midori's break up reasoning and the painful aftermath, Runa giving away her chance to Yukino in Runa's route was pretty sad too and Yukino I generally disliked because of her actions in Runa's route and Yuuma being dense really bugged me at points (including some questionable actions he took).

What do you think?

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I guess it's only logical if tone work's did their best to write childhood friend route in Hoshiori, seeing that in HatsuKoi it's one of the most infamous route. That said, while I still didn't play it yet I already think that Marika here is far better compared to Fureraba's Himahima when it come to childhood friend that met again cliche. As for Hoshiori, I would say that perhaps you should play Misa's route first considering that it's one of the weakest route according to the review that I'd read, but then again some people may like her route the most so it's more subjective matter to each people (I'm still like Misa's route here, okay).

As for HatsuKoi's order, judging from people reactions and review I think it goes like Runa is the worst, then Yukino, Midori, Maya, and finally Kyou. Keep in mind that it's only based on my observation, so I may be wrong on this.

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Yesterday I finished Sakura Sakura - after 36 hours, according to Steam timer.

It was great fun - it just ticked the right boxes and scratched right itches for me

First thing that grabbed me was lovely "classic" art style, and facial animations for character sprites - blinking and pseudo-lip-sync. I felt almost like playing remastered Sakura no Kisetsu Music is great too, and some of the tunes also feel like lifted almost straight from that classic era - for example that upbeat theme that plays during most Kurumi's scenes.

Characters were also very likeable - Tooru, Naoki, Akira and Masashi make really nice group. I actually didn't have any problems with Naoki - either as side character or protagonist. It gives that "group of friends" vibe that we loved in Little Busters or Majikoi - it isn't as strong, but it's there.

All four heroines are lovely too - if I had to choose one to take home, I'd take Sakura

I really loved all her different sides - she resembles Ritsuko Kitamikado a little (not visually, mind you ). On the surface - very strict and cool, but hidden underneath is quite playful and jealous girl.
And why specifically Ritsuko? Just compare those two scenes

Also, her hairstyle is one of the few short hairstyles that I really like - usually I prefer longer hair.

Nanako's route (and some parts of common) have numerous Maison Ikkoku anime references, which I loved. The dorm looks very much like 一刻館, Tooru gets room No.5, his indecisiveness rivals that of Godai, Akira and Naoki keep invading his room - and there are some scenes in "sub routes" where Naoki behaves a little like mysterious Yotsuya, and finally Nanako shares many personality traits with Kyouko - mostly how she gets angry at Tooru after jumping to conclusions And the phones in both houses are identical It all added another layer of entertainment for me - loved it.

Akira is pretty good - if maybe a bit violent - osananajimi, and she makes great pair with Naoki. She has also surprising caring side to her However Kurumi's route was really nice too, so I'd have hard time choosing best girl for Naoki. (Actually it's the same with Sakura vs Nanako). One of the things I liked about Kurumi's route were some fourth-wall-poking scenes, like when she stated on various occasions that "this is just like in eroge"

The "map movement" segments were pretty nice too, with pixel-art chibi sprites, resembling a bit those from LittleBusters batting practice, and NES-style music.

Sakura Sakura is very lighthearted, but does it in a really charming way. I laughed very often seeing the banter between Naoki and Akira or Masashi, or Kurumi fooling around with Moe (who gave her such name? ) Also, all characters are still present during the routes - which is always welcome.

The game is pretty unusual in one aspect - there's almost no narration (outside h-scenes), all story is delivered almost exclusively through dialogues. It works, but sometimes may be a bit confusing - during some scenes I had to check the backlog to make sure what's going on.

I started with all-ages version, and completed Nanako's first route, but something felt off - like, some jumps in the story were a bit too sudden. Unfortunately, all-ages version of Sakura Sakura is really poor hack-job. I don't know if original console version was the same, or if it was done by SolPress exclusively for Steam edition, but it simply doesn't work. There are no replacement scenes, and cuts are waaay too broad, cutting off pretty important bits of dialogue or story as a result. So for this game adult patch is absolute must-have. It is free, so no problem here.

That brings us to the h-scenes themselves. They were nice refreshment after disappointment that SukiSuki was for me. While they are still full of hentai/eroge cliches, it didn't bother me, because for most of the scenes writers managed to make them "love scenes" rather than just porn. It's clear that all that characters do is expression of their love and affection towards each other, and not just fapservice for the player (Well, some of the scenes in Nanako's after story have more fanservicey feel to them, but still they're good) And they don't break characters personalities. There are also some nice bits of dialogue - before, during the act and after - and cutting them is pretty big loss.

Now let's talk a bit about translation. There is "honorifics on/off" switch in the options menu, and in theory it looks like nice idea - including two versions of translation, to satisfy both camps. Unfortunately, it's rather messy. Default setting is "Off", but this version doesn't work too well. It looks like it was done with some kind of automatic replacement, with "honorifics on" version as a base. It almost always defaults to characters first name, event when it doesn't make too much sense - especially when switching from last to first name is significant story point and marks important progress in the relationship. Also, replacing both "Nanako-sensei" (in dorm) and "Sakura-sensei" (in school) with just "Nanako" sounds really off. It should have been at least "Ms Nanako/Sakura", just like they did with Bitou-sensei. After a bit of toggling, I finally left that switch in the "on" position, but that version suffers from some lack of QC as well - some of the lines are still translated as if they were from the "off" version, and sometimes honorifics are messed up - like senpai <> sensei or san <> kun. Also, it's a bit inconsistent - probably due to multiple translators. For example, the way Naoki speaks about Sakura. He often says something like "Kirishima no nee-san" ("桐島の姉さん"?), and even in "honorifics-on" version it's often translated as "Little Miss Kirishima" (which I like, as he mostly says it in a tongue-in-cheek way). However, in some cases he refers to her as just "Nee-san", and that was left untranslated - unnecessarily IMO.

I personally think that this game could have been translated properly without honorifics, but it would require some more work from the team - as it is, "non-honorific" version doesn't work, and "honorific" (or "weeby" ) version has its issues too.

Despite those complaints, it was great experience - 8/10. (I think it would have been 8.5 with more polished translation)

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Finished ChusinGura Chapter 3, the game really is long. My short break sadly dampened my immersion and enjoyment in the latter half.

Spoiler

I really found Suguha wise and cool in the beginning but was kinda frustrated at his understandable rejecton of what he really feels and that is actually being with his Ako comrades. The process of him realizing what he really wants was one of the best moments in the chapter for me. Seeing Chikara bind herself just like Suguha and suffer a lot just for his sake, touched my heart. I didn't like Chikara at first but after seeing her devotion it's really touching. Their relationship feels more equal and not just Suguha being ordered around by Yasube or Kuranosuke. While I do like Chikara, I liked Shinpachi A LOT. Her yandere-ness was appealing and it's sad that her path was just a bad ending and fuck was I surprised at that random bad ending. I feel like I would have cried a lot more in the end if I didn't stop in the middle for like a month, my immersion dampened. Also the end with Ichigaku wtf (was that the right name?). I'm a bit afraid of what some otherpeople say about ch 4 and ch 5 and WHAT Im really afraid of is chapter 5 main heroines which is the blond imouto. I'll take Sayo over that blond imouto anytime of the day( I won't say I'm a lolicon but while she is younger she feels more better as a character than blond imouto and I already forgot her name